Péter Érdi, the Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies, has been named to the Board of Directors for the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS), where he will serve two years as the Secretary and Vice President of Protocol.
Among the first and oldest organizations devoted to interdisciplinary inquiry into the nature of complex systems, ISSS was originally founded in 1954 as the Society for General Systems Research. ISSS’s first purpose was to encourage the development of theoretical systems that are applicable to more than one subject of study.
Since, ISSS has expanded its scope beyond purely theoretical and technical considerations to include the practical application of systems methodologies in problem solving. It also provides a forum where scholars and practitioners from across disciplines—representing academic, business, government and non-profit communities—can share ideas to learn from each other.
Érdi received the 2018 Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship, the highest award bestowed by K’s faculty, which honors the recipient’s contributions in creative work, research and publication. He has dozens of publications from his time at K, including three books since 2019, Ranking: The Hidden Rules of the Social Game,We All Play (2019), Repair: When and How to Improve Broken Objects, Ourselves and Our Society (2022) and Feedback: How to Destroy or Save the World (2024), which have received international acclaim.
Péter Érdi, the Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies at Kalamazoo College, will serve two years as the Secretary and Vice President of Protocol for the International Society for the Systems Sciences.
Also, five K alumni from the class of 2009—Brad Flaugher, Jerrod Howlett, Trevor Jones, Elliot Paquette and Griffin Drutchas—honored Érdi with a fund in his name that will help support the field of complex systems studies for years to come.
Cecilia Vollbrecht, assistant professor of chemistry, is one of just 10 faculty members from institutions across the country to be chosen for a new fellowship that will help students in the chemistry and biochemistry department at Kalamazoo College attain new skills.
The fellowship, called Accelerating Curricular Transformation in the Computational Molecular Sciences (ACT-CMS), is managed by the Molecular Science Software Institute (MolSSI) through funding from the National Science Foundation. Through 2027, Vollbrecht will participate in an annual weeklong bootcamp at MolSSI, where she will receive curriculum development and assessment training to help her introduce computer programming and computation in her courses.
“I’m really glad to be selected for this fellowship along with other talented scientists,” Vollbrecht said. “Since arriving at Kalamazoo College, it has been my goal to make sure our students are getting the most current skills they need to succeed and that means constantly evaluating where our curriculum can improve. I think adding more computational knowledge, such as coding, into our chemistry and biochemistry curriculum will help our students leave K with essential skills for a broad range of scientific pursuits.”
Incorporating new skills will benefit physical chemistry courses such as Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy, a class taken primarily by juniors and seniors where they discuss the molecular reasoning for chemical energy, how quantum mechanics applies to chemistry, and how molecules interact with light to produce chemical reactions.
“I want to make sure our students have skills such as basic knowledge of computer coding and data-visualization techniques, which are important no matter what career they go into,” Vollbrecht said. “When students complete the modules that are added to the course, they will have a deeper understanding of the chemistry topics as well as the ability to explain basic coding techniques and write a bit of their own code.”
Students taking courses from Assistant Professor of Chemistry Cecilia Vollbrecht will build skills in computer programming and computation thanks to her new fellowship.
Vollbrecht said she has already started including some cyberinfrastructure skills in the Thermodynamics and Kinetics class she leads. But the goal is to enhance present learning in that class and others.
“I think these curricular adjustments will help all of our students,” she said. “Most fields our students enter today will involve working with computers to either collect, analyze or share data. The more background knowledge they have on the subject, the more prepared they will be to contribute to projects. I think this is a quality investment by NSF that will help continue training the next generation of scientists.”
Vollbrecht added that the weeklong workshop will be a great chance to connect with and learn from other people working toward the same curricular goals. It is a chance to share ideas and best practices, and to workshop how to best fit these new skills into K’s courses effectively.
“Although I have used programming extensively in my career, the workshop is a great chance to learn from other instructors on how to best teach these skills to our students,” she said. “As a fellows group, we are also working toward making an online repository where we can post our materials for other instructors to use. The goal is to help other instructors also have an easier starting point for introducing their students to these topics as well.”
With the end of the academic year, Kalamazoo College is bidding farewell to its retiring faculty and staff who have nearly 260 years of service time among them. As they embark on their well-deserved retirements, the College thanks them for their significant contributions, the legacies they leave behind, and the indelible marks they have made on students and colleagues alike.
RETIRING FACULTY
Tom Askew, Physics
Askew has been a professor of physics at Kalamazoo College since 1991 and served as a visiting research professor at Argonne National Lab from 1992–2008. Since 2009, he has served as the director of the College’s engineering dual degree program, formerly known as the 3/2 engineering program.
Askew earned K’s Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Outstanding Achievement in Creative Work, Research or Publication in 2000–01. He has maintained professional associations in the American Physical Society, Materials Research Society and International Association for Energy Economics. His research has received funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Research Corporation, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Kalamazoo College congratulates and thanks its retiring faculty and staff.
Before K, Askew was a technical staff member at Dupont Research from 1984–91. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from Gordon College, served as a research and teaching assistant at Princeton University, and acquired a master’s degree and Ph.D. in experimental condensed matter and materials physics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Karyn Boatwright, Psychology / Women, Gender and Sexuality
Boatwright has been a psychology faculty member at K since 1998. Beginning in 2017, she partnered with the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement and Planned Parenthood of Southwest Michigan in conducting a Feminist Psychology of Women course, addressing the importance of reproductive health services for all. Students in that class yearly write, direct and produce a theatre piece titled, Pro-Voice Monologues: Stories of Reproductive Justice presented at K in front of a live audience before conducting an interactive panel discussion with local leaders. Her other recent courses have included Introduction to Psychopathology, Feminist Psychology of Women, History and Systems of Psychology and Counseling Psychology: Theory and Practice.
Boatwright was a psychotherapist in private practice before working in higher education. Her professional memberships have included the Society of Counseling Psychology, the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, the Counseling Psychology Section for the Advancement of Women, the Association of Women in Psychology and the Society of the History of Psychology. She holds a master’s degree in community and agency counseling and a doctorate in philosophy from Michigan State University.
Andy Mozina, English
Mozina studied economics at Northwestern University and attended Harvard Law School for a year before earning a master’s degree in creative writing from Boston University. He then completed a doctorate in English literature at Washington University in St. Louis, moving to Kalamazoo to teach literature and creative writing at K after graduation.
His classes at K have included an introductory course in creative writing, a first-year seminar titled Co-Authoring Your Life, and intermediate and advanced courses in fiction. Outside the classroom, he served as the faculty advisor of The Cauldron—an annual publication of student art and written creative work. He also earned the Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Outstanding Achievement in Creative work, Research or Publication from K in 2010–11.
Mozina’s first novel, Contrary Motion, was published in 2016. He also wrote a book of literary criticism titled Joseph Conrad and the Art of Sacrifice along with two short-story collections, The Women Were Leaving the Men, which won the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award; and Quality Snacks, which was a finalist for The Flannery O’Connor Short Fiction Award. In 2023, he released his latest novel, Tandem.
Tom Rice, Art and Art History
Rice, the Jo-Ann and Robert Stewart Professor of Art, is a multimedia artist who has worked in drawing, painting, video and performance while teaching at K for the past 32 years.
In 2019, Rice received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award in visual arts that allowed him to research the realities of fossil-fuel extraction and create mixed-media art at the University of Alberta in Canada. That art was featured in an exhibition titled Tipping Point earlier this year at Western Michigan University. He earned the Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Outstanding Achievement in Creative Work, Research or Publication from K in 2001–02.
Rice’s commissioned works have included pieces for the Xerox Corporation and the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial. His work has been exhibited at the South Bend Regional Museum of Art, the Evansville Museum, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, the Kalamazoo Institute of Art, the Lansing Art Gallery, the Arkansas Arts Center, the Art Academy of Cincinnati, the Urban Institute of Art and the Kresge Art Museum.
Enid Valle, Spanish
Valle served on K’s faculty for 36 years, joining the College before it had a Spanish department. She concludes her career as a professor of Spanish, having also served the College as chair of the Departments of Romance Languages and Literatures, Spanish Languages and Literatures, and German Studies. Her classes have ranged from a course dedicated to Pablo Neruda, a Chilean poet and Nobel Prize in Literature recipient, to Woman Artists and Innovators, a 400-level course she taught this spring.
Within her professional memberships, Valle fulfilled roles as vice president (2006–07) and president (2007–08) of the Ibero-American Society for 18th Century Studies (IASECS). She also has been a member of the American Society for 18th Century Studies and the Modern Language Association.
Valle holds degrees in comparative literature including a bachelor’s from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, and a master’s from the University of Michigan. She also holds a Ph.D. in romance languages (Spanish) from the University of Michigan.
RETIRING STAFF
Grace Alexander, Facilities Management
Alexander began working at K as a part-time custodian in 2016. Two months later, she was promoted to the full-time role she held until retiring this May. Colleagues said her kind and caring demeanor helped her build relationships across campus. She could be counted on to properly clean any space assigned to her while leading with team spirit.
Charles Hines, Facilities Management
Hines was a custodian for almost 10 years. His co-workers said he came to work with contagious positivity. His congenial energy and flexibility helped him build and maintain relationships with students, faculty and staff.
Rod Malcolm, Admission
Malcolm was serving as the Office of Admission’s senior associate director when he retired. Over his nearly 26 years at K, he fulfilled roles including coordinator of international admission, coordinator of student of color recruitment and Posse Scholarship liaison. He also played a critical part in establishing a Toyota Success Fund scholarship that brings first-generation IDEA schools students from South Texas to the College.
Malcolm volunteered as the Young Men of Color student organization advisor and participated in campus events such as Black Joy Week, Cafsgiving and Monte Carlo while also playing on several intramural teams. Colleagues said he has been everything that is good about K.
Jacqueline (Jackie) Srodes, Center for Career and Professional Development
Colleagues said that in more than 21 years of service before retiring from the Center for Career and Professional Development, Srodes played crucial roles in career coaching, meeting with more than 1,000 students and alumni during that time. She helped grow the Career Ambassador program and partnered with faculty to present in classrooms on subjects such as creating professional documents and preparing for interviews.
Margie Stinson, Information Services
Stinson began her employment at K as a part-time programmer and analyst before fulfilling a full-time role and eventually retiring after nearly 15 years of service. Colleagues have credited her with an ability to methodically support the departments and projects to which she was assigned through her deep knowledge, attention to detail and documentation skills. They also noted she helped end-users to ensure system functionality, testing and configuration.
Melvin Williams, Facilities Management
Williams retired from K in February after more than 17 years as a custodian. Colleagues said he could strike up a conversation with anyone he encountered, and his flexibility, good judgement and authentic efforts ensured that the occupants of his buildings were happy.
A visit to the off-campus community studio and several Senior Integrated Projects (SIPs) painted a picture of life at Kalamazoo College during the city’s Art Hop festivities in May. During the monthly celebration that draws crowds to downtown Kalamazoo, the Park Trades Center, 326 W. Kalamazoo Ave., was the ultimate place for the local arts community to be.
Located only about a mile from campus, the Park Trades Center has been leasing space to artists and artisans for more than 30 years. A former manufacturing facility, this 105-year-old building has 95 studio spaces, including space used by Kalamazoo College since about 2010. Art students from K gather there throughout their senior year beginning with their SIP-preparation class in fall. That continues in winter as they work independently, and in spring when advisors meet with students. Every so often, the facility hosts Art Hop, giving students a spotlight within the city.
Josie Checkett ’25 was among the seniors who exhibited her work and benefited from the Park Trades Center this year. Her SIP, titled Shooting the Moon and Other Failures, represented her journey with growing up and the big changes that took place when she left behind her teenage years to become a young adult.
“When I became a senior and got studio space in the Park Trades Center to start working on my SIP, going there almost every day to work shifted my mindset from being an art student to being an artist,” Checkett said. “You get exposed to more opportunities to show work, you meet other people who work or have studios in the building, and you’re not beholden to the hours and resources of the Light Fine Arts building. If you do it right, it’s almost like doing a residency.”
The main area of K’s community studio at the Park Trades Center is used as a classroom and a critique and exhibition space, with the rest split into individual spaces for each studio art major or SIP student to work. In a typical year, about 12 to 15 students conduct studio SIPs in the department, Professor of Art Sarah Lindley said.
“Students have 24-hour access throughout the year, and many use the studio throughout the long winter break, which provides continuity in addition to an accessible workspace,” Lindley said. “The space is managed by a post-baccalaureate fellow, who is a working artist and also has a studio in the space. The fellow serves as a liaison between on- and off-campus resources, a mentor for students, a safety monitor for tool use, an exhibition coordinator and a helper with other essential programming in the department.”
Jacob Converse is the current post-baccalaureate fellow and he relishes his studio manager title. He said students and faculty are lucky to share the Park Trades Center with many working artists and people in trades of several varieties. The professionals include glass blowers, furniture and cabinetry makers, book binders, papermakers, barbers and photographers. It even has a wallpaper-printing studio.
“Art Hops are an exciting event with many Park Trades Center members opening their doors to the public to explore, shop and meet others interested in the arts,” Converse said. “It’s a hallmark experience for our students who gain vital exhibition experience along with the benefits of sharing ideas and receiving constructive feedback for future endeavors.”
Art Hop is an important part of the student experience for all levels of students. The studio hosts art hop exhibitions for seniors in fall and winter, which highlight the different stages of SIP development, and the spring features the department show. There were even a few non-art majors included this year because the students enjoyed their art classes and were proud of what they created.
“I know many of the students who attended this year’s Art Hop enjoyed meeting some local alumni, and many of the recently declared art majors are looking forward to working here, as they appreciated this exciting introduction to the studio space and its multifunctionality,” Converse said.
Kalamazoo College art students gather at the Park Trades Center throughout their senior year beginning with their SIP-preparation class in fall. That continues in winter as they work independently, and in spring when advisors meet with students. Every so often, the facility also hosts Art Hop, giving students a spotlight within the city.
Josie Checkett ’25 was among the seniors who exhibited her work at and benefited from the Park Trades Center this year.
The annual student show at the Park Trades Center remains a highlight of the academic year for Kalamazoo College art students with many venturing off campus to share their work and participate in the local arts community.
Lindley said the Gilmore Foundation supported the Park Trades Center for several years, and there have been numerous community collaborations there over the years, including partnerships with the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement along with some student-run community projects. The pandemic changed that somewhat. But the annual student show remains a highlight, with many students venturing off campus to share their work and participate in the local arts community.
Checkett says she hopes that students will continue to push their arts horizons there.
“It’s easy, especially when you live on campus, to forget we are living within an entire community, and one that has a very active art scene at that,” Checkett said. “Both showing work at Art Hop and attending other parts of the event gets students out into that community. When you’re an art student and your studio time, your critiques, most of the other art you see on a daily basis is all made by your direct peers, it’s good to broaden that scope. The Park Trades Center provides a valuable experience.”
The Kalamazoo College Singers will present the Michigan premiere of Hymnody of Earth, a song cycle composed by musician and choral director Malcolm Dalglish, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, at K’s Stetson Chapel, 1200 Academy St.
The composer himself will play the virtuosic hammered dulcimer and will be joined by International Percussion Ensemble Director Carolyn Koebel on percussion. Associate Professor of Music Chris Ludwa will be conducting the 45-voice college choir.
This 70-minute program features 19 songs, many of which are inspired by eco-poet Wendell Berry. This is the fourth time Ludwa has directed the piece, having previously led three performances in Indiana. He notes that the work is an all-time favorite among participating singers and audiences.
Hymnody features the hammered dulcimer, an ancient instrument, often considered an ancestor of the piano, that has been popular in various cultures, including in the Middle East and Europe. Dalglish and Koebel are performing the piece with several other choirs in the Midwest this spring.
While a music education student at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Dalglish designed and built more than 60 hammer dulcimers. He was a founding member of the popular folk trio Metamora and has nine albums, including solo offerings on the Windham Hill label. The American Boychoir, the St. Olaf Choir, the Indianapolis Children’s Choir and others have commissioned his folk-inspired music. In 1997, he formed the Oolites, an engaging young group of folk singers. Hymnody of Earth was their second CD; it is a spiritual celebration of nature that has been performed by choirs around the world.
The Kalamazoo College Singers are a mixed soprano, alto, tenor and bass choir.
Composer Malcolm Dalglish
Associate Professor of Music Chris Ludwa serves as the director of the Kalamazoo College Singers.
International Percussion Director Carolyn Koebel
“Dalglish’s songs are instantly accessible to anyone, yet somehow speak to the deepest part of our being on a soul level,” Ludwa said. “I’ve encountered few composers that can move both the skeptic and the most devout in the same way. His music is a balm to the weary human as he knits ancient musical traditions, texts that magically describe the magnificence of nature, and melodic and harmonic material that sends shivers up the spine and brings tears to the eyes.”
Tickets will be available at the door for a suggested donation of $15. For more information, contact Ludwa at 231-225-8877 or cludwa@kzoo.edu.
Maxwell Rhames ’25 and Daniela Arias-Rotondo, Kalamazoo College’s Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Endowed Chair in Natural Science, are receiving national recognition for their three years of work together that culminated in Rhames’ Senior Integrated Project (SIP).
Arias-Rotondo’s synthetic inorganic chemistry lab works to find ways of converting light into energy. In Rhames’ SIP, that meant examining what alternative metals could possibly be used to make things like solar panels less expensive, one day assisting a global shift toward renewable energy.
“When you have some sort of inorganic complex that absorbs light, that light can get transformed into chemical energy in the form of electricity,” Rhames said. “A common example is with solar panels, but the metals that they use in them are rare, and as a result, incredibly expensive. We were looking at taking some cheaper metals that you could find anywhere in a much more sustainable way and asking whether they can work.”
For their efforts, the two have received an honorable mention in the 2024 Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award for Undergraduate Research, which recognizes research that students and faculty perform in tandem. The award, given through the American Chemical Society, has three divisions between national labs, research universities and institutions that primarily consist of undergraduates. Rhames and Arias-Rotondo were honored in the primarily-undergraduates category, which covers scientists from hundreds of schools across the country.
“The traditional photoactive metals are iridium and ruthenium, and we’re looking at manganese, which is the third-most abundant transition metal on Earth,” Rhames said. “In the state we use it in, it’s stable and nontoxic, so it’s a great alternative. We’re looking at how we can bridge the gap between saying, ‘this could be really cool,’ and actually getting it to where we could apply it in some of these areas.”
Arias-Rotondo said she and Rhames use spectroscopy to understand what kind of light the compounds they create absorb and what happens after they absorb it.
Maxwell Rhames ’25 and Daniela Arias-Rotondo, Kalamazoo College’s Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Endowed Chair in Natural Science, have received national recognition with an honorable mention in the 2024 Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award for Undergraduate Research, which recognizes research that students and faculty perform in tandem.
“One of the problems that we’re finding is that once our compounds absorb light and get to what we call an excited state, that excited state doesn’t last long enough yet for them to be useful,” she said. “But Max’s work has been instrumental because he was the first one in the group to make these kinds of compounds. Now that we’ve been able to understand their properties and investigate some of them, other students in our lab can understand how to make them better. We are making a name for ourselves by laying the groundwork for making these compounds.”
Rhames has discussed his SIP at the Inter-American Photochemical Society and American Chemical Society conferences, where his fellow scientists were enthused about his work on a national scale.
“That’s been the coolest thing, because when you put something out there, you don’t know what people are going to think of it,” he said. “And generally, their reactions have been super rewarding. I enjoy doing the work myself, but it’s even cooler to know that other people find it equally exciting. It’s an added bonus.”
Rhames won’t be the first or the last in his family to graduate from K when he walks the stage at Commencement in June. Both of his parents, Frank ’92 and Jody ’92, are alumni, and his sister, Claire ’27, is a current student. However, he’s clearly found his own path having performed research in Arias-Rotondo’s lab ever since his first year on campus. In addition, he will start a Ph.D. program at the University of Delaware in fall, and he hopes to one day serve as a faculty member at an institution like K.
“K is small, so you get to make a lot of good connections with your professors,” Rhames said. “I was three or four weeks into my first term as a college student, and all of a sudden, I’m in a lab doing the work with the research. There are no post-docs or graduate students. It is just the undergraduates and the faculty doing all of the work. That would’ve been a lot harder to do had I not gone to K.”
William Weber Chair of Social Science Amy Elman receives the 2025 Lux Esto Award from President Jorge G. Gonzalez during Founders Day events at Stetson Chapel on Friday, April 25.
Varney Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo receives the Outstanding First-Year Advocate Award from President Gonzalez at Founders Day.
Dow Associate professor of Computer Science Sandino Vargas-Perez receives the Outstanding Advisor Award from President Gonzalez at Founders Day
Amy Elman, the William Weber Chair of Social Science, is this year’s recipient of the Lux Esto Award of Excellence as announced today during the College’s Founders Day celebration, marking K’s 192nd year.
The award recognizes an employee who has served the institution for at least 26 years and has contributed significantly to the campus. The recipient—chosen by a committee with student, faculty and staff representatives—is an employee who exemplifies the spirit of K through selfless dedication and goodwill.
At K, Elman has taught a variety of courses within the political science, women’s studies and Jewish studies departments. During her tenure, she has also been a visiting professor at Haifa University in Israel, Harvard University, SUNY Potsdam, Middlebury College, Uppsala University in Sweden and New York University.
Elman has received two Fulbright grants, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a grant from the Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism at Hebrew University. She has written three books: The European Union, Antisemitism and the Politics of Denial (2014); Sexual Equality in an Integrated Europe (2007); and Sexual Subordination and State Intervention: Comparing Sweden and the United States (1996). She also edited Sexual Politics and the European Union: The New Feminist Challenge (1996). In the 1997–98 academic year, she was awarded K’s Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship for outstanding scholarship.
In accordance with Founders Day traditions, two other employees received community awards. Dow Associate Professor of Computer Science Sandino Vargas–Pérez was given the Outstanding Advisor Award and Varney Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo received the First-Year Advocate Award.
Before arriving at K, Vargas-Perez worked as an adjunct instructor at Western Michigan University, where he earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in computer science. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic.
Vargas-Perez has taught courses at K in data structures, algorithms, parallel computing, computing for environmental science, object-oriented programming, and programming in Java and web development. His research interests include high-performance computing, parallel and distributed algorithms, computational genomics, and data structures and compression.
Jazz quartet Liam McElroy (piano), Laura DeVilbiss (flute), Garrick Hohm (string bass) and Adam Cornier-Bridgeforth (drums) performed at the Founders Day celebration.
President’s Student Ambassadors Ava Williams ’26 and Madeline Hollander ’26 introduced President Gonzalez at the 192nd Founders Day celebration.
President Gonzalez recognized the students who served this year as President’s Student Ambassadors and shared the names of 13 more who will serve beginning this fall.
Nominators said Vargas–Pérez has consistently gone above and beyond his responsibilities as a professor to promote learning while finding opportunities for his advisees.
Arias-Rotondo has earned significant funding in support of her research and her commitment to engaging students in hands-on experiences in her lab. A $250,000 grant in 2023 from the National Science Foundation’s Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (LEAPS-MPS) provided funding for student researchers, typically eight to 10 per term. In 2024, she received a $50,000 American Chemical Society (ACS) Petroleum Research Fund grant, which will support her and her students’ upcoming research regarding petroleum byproducts. H.
Arias-Rotondo teaches Introductory Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Molecular Structure and Reactivity, and commonly takes students to ACS conferences. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Universidad de Buenos Aires in Argentina and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Nominators said she has been a dependable, inspirational and fierce advocate for students.
Gonzalez also recognized the students who served as President’s Student Ambassadors in the 2024–25 academic year and introduced those who will serve the College beginning this fall in 2025–26. As student leaders, President’s Student Ambassadors serve as an extension of the president’s hospitality at events and gatherings, welcoming alumni and guests of the College with a spirit of inclusion. About 15 students serve as ambassadors each academic year. The students selected show strong communication skills; demonstrate leadership through academic life, student life or community service; and maintain a minimum grade-point average.
The 2024-25 ambassadors have been:
Jaylen Bowles-Swain ’26
Christopher Cayton ’25
Kyle Cooper ’25
Blake Filkins ’26
James Hauke ’26
Maya Hester ’25
Madeline Hollander ’25
Gavin Houtkooper ’25
Katie Kraemer ’25
Isabelle Mason ’27
Alex Nam ’25
Tyrus Parnell, Jr. ’25
Isabella Pellegrom ’25
Addison Peter ’25
Maxwell Rhames ’25
Emiliano Alvarado Rescala ’27
Amelie Sack ’27
Dean Turpin ’25
Ava Williams ’25
The 2025-26 ambassadors succeeding this year’s seniors will be:
When Sashae Mitchell ’13 stepped into her new role as director of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) last year, it was a meaningful return to the place where her journey in civic and global education began. She follows in the footsteps of founding director Alison Geist, who retired after years of visionary leadership.
Before coming back to K, Mitchell was making a difference in her home country of Jamaica as the founder and managing director of Mitchell’s Math Centre, offering math instruction and tutoring to students in grades four through 11. She also served as an assistant lecturer in the faculty of business at Montego Bay Community College.
Mitchell holds a master’s degree in international education and development from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her bachelor’s in mathematics right here at K. We caught up with her to learn more about what inspired her return and her vision for the Center’s future.
Question: How did you get involved in civic engagement as a profession? Tell us about your career path and why you have decided to return to K?
Answer: The CCE was my first introduction to critical community engagement, where students, faculty and community members work together to strengthen communities to promote a more just and equitable society. Through the CCE, I learned the immense value of this work, its role in fostering a sense of belonging, and its ability to help students find and sustain their community while on a college campus. The CCE also provided opportunities for students to learn from and collaborate with community members. This experience significantly shaped my career path. When I entered K, I aspired to become an actuary, but my involvement with the CCE ignited a passion for education and addressing educational inequities which shifted my focus and took me on a different journey.
As the new leader of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement, Sashae Mitchell ’13 wants to expand its impact while sharing its efforts nationally and even globally.
Upon graduating from K, I interned with the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, where I collaborated on reports and strategic planning sessions to advance the Learning Network of Greater Kalamazoo and conducted data analysis on the Kalamazoo Promise. This experience helped refine my focus on education and community development.
In 2014–15, I returned to K as the post-baccalaureate fellow at the CCE, which deepened my commitment to this work. One of the highlights of that year was when I co-facilitated a class with former CCE director Alison Geist and former associate director Teresa Denton, exploring critical service learning by examining contemporary social issues and their intersections. Working closely with students and facilitating their leadership development as they managed more than 15 community partnerships was incredibly rewarding. This experience also paved the way for my graduate studies in international education and development, where I further honed my skills and gained international experience through an internship with an educational think tank in South Africa. There, I applied many of the principles I learned at K, especially those focused on collaborating with the community to develop educational interventions. Throughout this process, we made sure to center the voices of those impacted by the inequities we were working to address.
Though my career path took many twists and turns, including returning to Jamaica as a lecturer teaching mathematics, the common thread throughout has always been community engagement. I worked with students who struggled with the subject, and I applied the CCE’s principles of community to help encourage collaboration and mutual support in the classroom.
Returning to K has felt like a natural, even destined, step. Although my journey took me down various paths, the central theme has always been how to work in community. Being in this role feels like kismet—serving as the director of the department that helped shape my worldview, career goals and life’s work has been deeply fulfilling. I’m grateful for the opportunity to return to the place where it all began.
Q: What made K special for you as a student and now as a civic engagement professional?
A: Kalamazoo College is truly a unique institution, and surprisingly, I only fully realized this after graduating in 2013. My life has been profoundly shaped by the various aspects of the K-Plan that I had the privilege of experiencing as a student.
My passion for civic engagement began as a first-year student when I joined two programs—Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS) and Keeping the Doors Open (KDO). CAPS captured my heart, and I remained involved in the program throughout my four years at K. Working on the city’s northside at Interfaith Homes through CAPS was the first time I truly felt a sense of belonging at K. It was clear that the CCE would become my home away from home. My involvement in civic engagement grew, and it was no surprise that I became a Civic Engagement Scholar in my sophomore and senior years, eventually returning to work at the CCE as a post-baccalaureate fellow after graduation.
K’s commitment to preparing students to become enlightened leaders through a flexible curriculum, which encourages applying learning in transformative ways, is one of the many reasons the college stands out as a gem in southwest Michigan. Experiential learning is deeply embedded in the culture at K. It has been an absolute pleasure returning to campus. K provides opportunities for students to study abroad, work with community partners and learn from professionals through a variety of internship and externship opportunities. I certainly wouldn’t have gone to China without K’s excellent study abroad program.
The CCE provides an opportunity for me to work with students, faculty and community in collaborative partnerships that employ critical civic engagement and seek to address social justice issues. We facilitate opportunities for students to work alongside community partners, enhancing educational experiences and supporting efforts to create a more just and sustainable world. What a great place to work!
Q: What are your goals, short term and long term, for the Center for Civic Engagement?
A: For more than 20 years, since its inception, the leadership of the CCE has worked to build the department and establish the prominence it now enjoys. As we enter the next chapter of the CCE, our goal is to continue building on this legacy while elevating our work both on campus and within the community. We aim to expand our impact, sharing our efforts nationally and even globally.
Our goals for this next chapter include:
Engaging new and sustaining existing community partners to support our student-led programs, community-based courses and community-building internships.
Collaborating closely with faculty to ensure our work is consistently grounded in scholarship.
Enhancing our data collection methods to more effectively share the stories of our impact.
Fostering the continued growth and development of our Civic Engagement Scholars.
Increasing student participation and engagement across our initiatives.
Through these efforts, we hope to build on the foundation laid by our predecessors and take the CCE to new heights of excellence and influence.
Q: How do you like to connect with students? What’s your approach?
A: I truly enjoy working with students and I would argue that this has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my role. As a Kalamazoo College alum, I take great pride in sharing my K story with students I meet, offering insights into both the successes and challenges I’ve faced and how I navigated them.
Currently, I primarily work with our Civic Engagement Scholars, along with many other students involved in our programs. They have appreciated coming to our offices, and my open-door policy has created a space where they feel comfortable to visit whether to seek advice, share experiences or simply connect.
As a woman of color in this role, I am deeply mindful of how I show up in these spaces, particularly for BIPOC students. Representation matters, and I believe it is vital to support them in meaningful ways. During my time as a K student, I was fortunate to have advocates who ensured my experience was fulfilling and impactful. It’s my mission to pay that forward and be a source of support and guidance for future K students.
Q: On a personal note, what are three things people might be surprised to learn about you?
A: I’m currently learning to swim with the Kalamazoo Master’s Swim Club and it’s been a life-changing experience!
I majored in math at K and I still have a strong passion for the subject. My degree helped me develop critical problem-solving skills that have shaped the way I approach both life and every role I’ve held in my professional career.
I grew up in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and although the Michigan winters are still an adjustment, I absolutely love the winter outfits!
A faculty member’s success again is spotlighting Kalamazoo College through his standout work in Michigan’s professional theatre scene.
For the sixth time, Theatre Arts Professor Lanny Potts has been selected as the recipient of a Wilde Award for Best Lighting, an honor distributed through EncoreMichigan.com. The web-based publication focuses on the state’s professional theater industry, uplifting the top productions, actors, artists, designers, writers and technicians. The awards are named for Oscar Wilde, an 1800s Irish poet and playwright.
Potts previously received Wilde Awards for Farmers Alley Theatre productions such as The Light in the Piazza in 2012, Bridges of Madison County in 2018 and Bright Star in 2021. This time, the honor comes because of his work in the 2024 Farmers Alley Theatre production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a show presented at K that featured youthful characters trying to figure out their own personalities through competitive spirits and strong desires to spell. It’s a story of kids coming together and creating bonds between them.
The summer performances—along with a Famers Alley production of School of Rock—united K students with professional Actors’ Equity Association performers and stage workers, just like in the summer stock productions they once had with the Playhouse’s launch in 1964, 60 years prior.
Potts’ local work began in summer 1986. After serving the John F. Kennedy Center for the American College Theatre Festival as a stage manager, he worked as a technical director and lighting designer with the Kalamazoo Civic Youth Theatre program. He was hired in 1987 as the technical director for K’s Festival Playhouse and since has sustained a 25-year teaching career within higher education while also providing guest masterclass design instruction at various venues, and providing professional presentations on lighting design, design communication, and leadership and creativity within the arts at professional conferences and workshops.
The Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo awarded Potts last fall with a Community Medal of Arts. Since 1985, the annual award has recognized an artist who is a leader in their field, has a significant body of creative activity, has received local and/or national acclaim, and has impacted the Kalamazoo community through art.
“When we reflect upon celebrating the 60th anniversary of Festival Playhouse, the creative drive of Nelda K. Balch, the creative force for community good in Dorothy U. Dalton, the special relationship which forged the impetus for Festival Playhouse 60 years ago, and the creative artists who have participated in that work, I’m honored to be a small piece of that much greater story,” Potts said. “I am so thankful for the opportunity to work for our community, with gifted artists, and especially, to create with our amazing students. #luckyme.”
Theatre Arts Professor Lanny Potts has earned his sixth Wilde Award for Best Lighting through EncoreMichigan.com
Potts’ most recent Wilde Award recognizes the professional lighting work he did with the Farmers Alley Theatre production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” at K’s Festival Playhouse. Photo by Klose2UPhotography.
The summer performances of “Spelling Bee”—along with a Famers Alley production of School of Rock—united K students with professional Actors’ Equity Association performers and stage workers. Photo by Klose2UPhotography.
Kalamazoo College’s faculty and staff are not only dedicated to developing the strengths of every student—preparing them for lifelong learning, career readiness, intercultural understanding, social responsibility and leadership—they are also recognized for their exceptional scholarship and contributions to their fields. Here are their top news stories of 2024 as determined by your clicks. If you missed it, you can find our top 10 stories of students at our website. Watch in the coming days for our top 10 alumni stories and stories from the College itself.
Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo, affectionately known to her students as Dr. DAR, has earned an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund award. The honor bestows $50,000 to support her students’ research while backing her investigations into petroleum byproducts.
Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo, is pictured with her lab students in summer 2024.
The Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo announced that Professor of Theatre Arts Lanny Potts will be the latest with K connections to receive the Community Medal of Arts Award. Since 1985, the annual award has recognized an artist who is a leader in their field, has a significant body of creative activity, has received local and/or national acclaim, and has impacted the Kalamazoo community through art.
The Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo announced that Professor of Theatre Arts Lanny Potts will receive the 2024 Community Medal of Arts Award.
Jessica Fowle ’00—K’s director of grants, fellowships and research—was selected to be a part of the inaugural Fulbright Program Advisor Mentors Cohort. As an FPA mentor, Fowle is one of 20 from around the country who provides virtual training and information sessions, presentations at the Forum for Education Abroad, and personal advice to new Fulbright program advisors who are looking to structure applicant support and recruitment at their own institutions.
Jessica Fowle ’00 (front row, fourth from right) is grateful for an opportunity to network with her fellow Fulbright Program advisors.
As Professor Timothy Moffit ’80 approached retirement this spring, a group of alumni—both classmates and students of Moffit’s—established a scholarship in his honor. The recognition speaks to Moffit’s commitment to the classroom and his students, to business within the framework of the liberal arts, and to his department and the College as a whole.
Péter Érdi, the longtime Kalamazoo College Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies, is being honored by five alumni from the Class of 2009 with a fund in his name that will help support a field of study for years to come.
Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Péter Erdi presented at the Brain Bar, a technology and music conference in Budapest.
Suzanne Lepley, a former dean of admission, was named Kalamazoo College’s director of alumni engagement in May, succeeding Kim Aldrich ’80, who retired after more than 40 years at the College. In her previous role, Lepley recruited thousands of students to K, making personal connections and demonstrating a passion for student success and engagement.
Endowed chairs are positions funded through the annual earnings from an endowed gift or gifts to the College. The honor reflects the value donors attribute to the excellent teaching and mentorship that occurs at K and how much donors want to see that excellence continue.
Dwight Williams is among six Kalamazoo College faculty members to be named endowed chairs in 2024.
Ivett Lopez Malagamba, Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada, Stephen Oloo, Sandino Vargas-Perez and Leihua Weng—from the Spanish, religion, mathematics, computer science and East Asian studies departments respectively—were awarded tenure in 2024 along with promotion to associate professor.
Ivett Lopez Malagamba was one of five faculty members to earn tenure in 2024.
In addition to serving as head football coach, Zorbo served as K’s interim athletic director during the 2017-18 academic year and as co-interim director in 2023-24. He has served as an assistant athletic director since 2012, overseeing external operations and working closely with the division of advancement to support athletic fundraising efforts.
Kalamazoo College bid farewell this spring to several retiring faculty and staff members who dedicated decades of service to the institution as they are retiring. The College thanked them for their significant contributions, the legacies they leave behind, and the indelible marks they have made on students.
May 10, 2024, was the final Kalamazoo College Jazz Band performance for its director, Music Professor Tom Evans.
